


The Lifeguard

by Lastly



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:42:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27202646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lastly/pseuds/Lastly
Summary: Blake works at a pool and a certain regular has caught her eye.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	The Lifeguard

Blake Belladonna let out a heavy sigh. This was always her least favorite part of the job. At the end of the day, after all the pool maintenance was done and the last few swimmers cleared out of the locker room, she had to copy the names of everyone who came by the pool center from the clipboard on the front desk into the computer system. That part on its own wasn't necessarily all that bad. It was just some menial data input. No, the part she disliked was after that when she had to make a photocopy of the sign-in sheet and file the original into one filing cabinet and the copy into a different cabinet. She had tried telling her boss how unnecessary and redundant the whole process was but he wouldn't listen to her. The old codger was stuck in his archaic ways.

She closed her eyes and held back a groan when she heard the front door open up.

"We're closed!" she called out without looking up from her spot at the front desk.

"Awww, come one!" came a familiar voice. Blake looked up from her work and saw none other than Yang Xiao Long at the door. She was a regular that showed up to swim three, sometimes four, days a week. "The sign says you close at eight but it's only ten 'til! You can't do this to me Blakey!"

Blake rolled her eyes. It was something she did often when Yang was around. At first she had thought the blonde was too loud and boisterous for her own good but over time she had grown to rather like the woman. But regardless of how much she had warmed up to her, she just wanted to finish closing up and head home for the evening.

"Sorry Yang, I-"

" _Pleeeaaaaase_ " Yang leaned over the desk and gave Blake her best puppy dog eyes. "Just for, like, five minutes! While you finish up here and then you can come kick me out! I promise not to drown or cause any trouble!"

Blake chuckled at the last bit. She knew Yang would be fine on her own. She had seen her swim enough to know that she was good enough to take part in some competitions if she had wanted to so there was little to no chance that she'd randomly drown in just a few minutes alone. She sighed and, despite her desire to head home early, she agreed to give Yang some time in the pool.

"Yeah, okay, fine. I guess since you _promised_ not to drown. Head on back for a few." she said with a little smirk.

"Oh _hell_ yeah." Yang pumped her fist and then hurried off down the hall towards the locker room. Just as she rounded a corner, she called back to Blake. "Thanks a ton, Blakey!"

Blake rolled her eyes again. She didn't mind the nickname too much. Growing up, she had never really been given a nickname so it was a little odd to get one as an adult now. She felt like over the past few months of seeing Yang so often, that maybe the two of them had become something close to friends... or maybe she was just being hopeful. She probably shouldn't get her hopes up, though. Yang was just a customer, after all. Although she did stop and chat with Blake almost every time she came by and, occasionally, would get so caught up in their conversation that they'd both lose track of time until it was closing time and she'd have to skip swimming that day and come back the next day to get in her workout.

She shook her head to try and get thoughts of the blonde out of her head but the mundane work wasn't enough to fully distract her and her mind wandered back towards Yang. Lucky for Yang, that made the whole data entry process a bit slower and bought her a little bit of extra pool time. Eventually, Blake did get the work finished up, made the copies, and filed them away just how her curmudgeonly boss liked. She put a fresh sheet on the clipboard and returned it to the desk then took her time making her way back to the pool.

As she got closer to the pool, she could hear the water splashing as Yang paddled her way back and forth across its full length. She stopped before she entered the pool room and checked the time on her phone. Two minutes after eight. It seems she had given Yang a bit more than the five minutes she had asked for so she didn't feel too bad about telling her the fun was over now. 

Blake stepped out of the hallway and watched as Yang made another lap down towards the far end of the pool. She always liked to close because it meant she got to see how the evening light shone through the windows and lit up the pool in a uniquely beautiful way. Seeing Yang's tall and slender figure cutting through the water, rippling the light apart, and causing extra reflections and refractions ended up being a surprising bonus for Blake. It was something she hadn't seen before and she was caught off guard at just how much she liked to see it. As Yang turned and started her way back towards the end that Blake was at, Blake's attention turned to the woman herself. She had great form for someone who claimed to have never had official coaching or training. Her strong arms cut through the water with ease and her lithe form followed close behind. Blake was surprised that her mess of blonde hair somehow never got in the way of her motions. Once Yang made it to the near side of the pool, Blake called out to her.

"Okay Yang! Times up!" She clapped a few times to try and make sure to get her attention. Yang caught herself on the edge of the pool and looked up at Blake as she took a few deep breaths of fresh air.

"Aww, come on, just five more minutes?" she pleaded.

"No, come on, get out. I still need to get some dinner." Blake smiled as she spoke. A feeling in the pit of her stomach let her know just how much she was enjoying talking to Yang tonight, even though it had been such a basic interaction.

"Pleeeaaase?" Yang tried the pleading puppy dog eyes again. Yang's lilac eyes looked even prettier than usual in the evening light, but Blake was able to resist.

"Nope, that's not gonna work again!" Blake smirked.

"Okay, fiiiine." Yang said without actually moving to get out of the pool. She paused for a moment and Blake could tell she was concocting some kind of harebrained scheme. "I'll get out if you hop in and do a lap or two with me!"

Blake laughed a little laugh. "If I hadn't already changed out of my swim suit then I just might do it but I'm _way_ too lazy to change again."

"I don't see a problem there, just take off your clothes and hop in!" Yang shrugged and gave a little wink. Blake rolled her eyes at the blonde yet again.

"You know there's no skinny-dipping allowed. And before you ask: no, I'm not exempt from the rules just because I'm staff." Blake paused for a moment and when Yang didn't move she waved at her to get out. "Come on, time to dry off."

"Hmmmm, well, in that case you leave me no choice!" Yang pushed off back into the pool and ducked underwater for a moment. When she burst back above the water, she threw both parts of her two-piece swim suit up at Blake and managed to get it square in her face. Blake froze for a second as her mind tried to process what had just happened. She looked at the discarded clothes in her hand and then at the naked woman in her pool.

"Hey!" she shouted out to her. Yang laid out on her back and slowly drifted away from Blake as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"If you want me out of the pool you'll have to come get me!" she calmly said.

Blake looked over at the telescopic pool skimmer that hung on one wall and considered trying to use it to either catch Yang in the net or at least bonk her on the head with it. Something in her gut told her not to though; it told her to play along. She sighed, somewhat in disbelief that she'd actually do this, and quickly pulled off her jeans, t-shirt, and underwear, and then dove in after Yang. As soon as Blake hit the water, Yang swam away as fast as she could. Yang was a good swimmer but Blake was no slouch either. She had started working at the pool as a teenager which allowed her more than enough time in the water to practice her swimming.

The two arrived at the far side of the pool at about the same time but Blake was careful to put her hands on the edge of the pool on either side of Yang, effectively pinning her in place so she couldn't slip away.

"Oh no! You caught me!" Yang had a big dumb grin across her face and her voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Come on, play time's over." Blake said. She tried to hide her smile but she was having too much fun.

"You sure you don't wanna play a little longer?" Yang's smile changed to a confident smirk. Blake's brain started to catch up with what was going on and she realized she wasn't sure if Yang was still talking about swimming or not. Either way, she wanted to get out of here already.

"Out." she simply answered. Both women giggled a bit before Yang hefted herself up onto the edge. Blake caught herself staring for a moment and then pulled herself up out of the water as well. When Yang got back to where their clothes had piled up, she held up Blake's clothes and turned back to face the faunus.

"Oh hey, these are yours, right?" she said with another mischievous grin. Before Blake could answer, Yang bolted off down the hall towards the locker room.

"Hey!" Blake cried out. She laughed and hurried after Yang. When she arrived in the locker room, Yang had already disappeared somewhere amongst the rows of lockers. Blake carefully stalked from one row to the next until she turned a corner and was hit in the face by a towel. She pulled the towel down off of her face and saw Yang's giddy, laughing face. She thought for a moment how she was even cuter than usual when she laughed like this.

"I thought you said you weren't going to cause me any trouble!" Blake said as she started to use the towel to dry herself off.

"I can't help it, I'm a natural-born trouble maker!" Yang said as she started to dry herself with her own towel. "And, hey, you probably won't get in trouble for this so it's not like I _actually_ caused you any trouble! So I didn't really break my promise!"

Blake rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah, sure, okay. I don't think that's how that works."

"So what are you even doing here this late? You're usually here a lot earlier than this." Blake asked as the two continued to dry off. She kept her back towards Yang, for her own privacy as much as for the blonde's.

"I just had something important I wanted to do tonight, that's all." Yang replied. Blake thought it was a bit of an odd answer but she didn't linger on the thought for too long. Once she was dry, she grabbed her clothes off of the bench between the rows of lockers and got dressed again. Her hair would take a while longer to fully dry off but she didn't care too much.

"Hey, so, do you wanna go get something to eat after you're done working?" Yang's sudden question caught Blake off guard. She let out a little _'wha-'_ as she turned to face the blonde and saw that Yang had a look on her face that she hadn't seen before: she actually looked nervous. Blake froze, unable to find any words at all. After an awkwardly long pause, Yang spoke up again.

"Oh, no, it's okay if you've already got plans or need to, like, run errands or something. Just forget that I-"

"No! I mean, yeah. I mean... I'd love to." Blake quickly cut her off and forced out her answer. The smile reformed on Yang's face as her nervous expression melted away. Her smile was infectious because Blake felt the corners of her own mouth turn upwards in a grin.

"Just give me a few minutes to lock up and I'll be good to go. Did you have anywhere in mind?"

"There's this little burger place down the street that I love."

"Yeah? If it's the place I'm thinking of, I love it too." Blake nervously fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt.

"Alright, sounds like it's a date."

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly inspired by a scene in the movie Cat People (1982) of all things. I think I rushed the ending but it's late and I'm tired and gay and just wanted to finish this asfasdflkagadfnl
> 
> I'm going to be trying to do something for nanowrimo, so you can [follow me on twitter](https://twitter.com/ThatLastly) if you want to see my struggle happen in real time.


End file.
